Company Assessment

The bluesign® Standard sets "best practices" for the use of chemicals and resources  including water and energy  in the textile industry. Textile manufacturers who are bluesign system partners agree to establish management systems to improve environmental performance in five key areas of the production process: resource productivity, consumer safety, water emissions, air emissions, and occupational health and safety. They regularly report their progress, are subject to on-site audits, and must meet improvement goals to maintain their status.[Source 2016][More on Habitats]

This company is a member of the European Outdoor Conservation Association, a non-profit charitable organisation which supports conservation work by raising funds from within the European Outdoor sector and promoting care and respect for wild places.[Source 2017][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]

This company has committed to making products with RDS-certified down. The Responsible Down Standard (RDS) is an independent, voluntary global standard which ensures that down and feathers come from ducks and geese that have been treated well, with no live plucking or force feeding. However the RDS has been criticised by PETA, who claim live plucking still occurs at RDS farms. (http://bit.ly/2cYTtoJ)[Source 2019][More on Animal Rights]

Cam Walker from Friends of the Earth Melbourne has created a website which profiles outdoor gear companies and rates them according to a range of sustainability criteria. Follow the link to see this company's profile.[Source 2011]

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is an alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs. They work in partnership to improve the lives of workers across the globe who make or grow consumer goods - everything from tea to T-shirts, from flowers to footballs. This company is a full member.[Source 2018][More on Workers Rights]

This website by German NGO Earth Link rates companies on their corporate policies against child labour, production monitoring and accusations of child labour. This company received at least one green mark, and no red marks, indicating good performance in one or more of these areas.[Source 2013][More on Human Rights]

The Apparel and Footwear Supply Chain Transparency Pledge (Transparency Pledge) helps demonstrate apparel and footwear companies' commitment towards greater transparency in their manufacturing supply chain. Transparency of a company's manufacturing supply chain better enables a company to collaborate with civil society in identifying, assessing, and avoiding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts. This is a critical step that strengthens a company's human rights due diligence. This company is fully aligned with the Transparency Pledge, thereby committing to regularly publish on its website a list naming all sites that manufacture its products.[Source 2017][More on Sustainability Reporting]

Rank a Brand searches the websites of brands for the answers to carefully targeted questions. From this they calculate sustainability scores based on the themes of environment, climate, labor issues, and transparency. Brands owned by this company received a 'D'.[Source 2017][More on Sustainability Reporting]

This 2007 investigative report by China Labour Watch reveals poor work conditions for Chinese workers making products for this company, such as workers being required to work nine hours per day as regular hours in addition to five to six hours of mandatory overtime during peak season which accumulates to 14 work hours per day, about 420 hours per month. [Listed under information due to age of report][Source 2007][More on Workers Rights]

Playfair 2012, a coalition of trade unions and campaigning organisations, says this company is not doing enough to: ensure all workers are paid a living wage; allow workers to bargain collectively; eliminate short term contracts; and build long-term relationships with supplier factories. [Listed under Information due to age of report][Source 2012][More on Workers Rights]

This company is a founding member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in March 2011 by a group of global apparel and footwear companies and non-profit organizations (representing nearly one third of the global market share for apparel and footwear). The Coalition's goals are to reduce the apparel industry's environmental and social impact, and to develop a universal index to measure environmental and social performance of apparel products. [Source 2018][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]

This company is a partner of Better Work, an initiative of the UN's International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation which brings diverse groups together - governments, global brands, factory owners, and unions and workers - to improve working conditions in the garment industry and make the sector more competitive.[Source 2016][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]

This company is a participant in the Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) initiative, an initiative between international brands and retailers, manufacturers, and trade unions to address the issue of living wages in the textile and garment supply chain.[Source 2018][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]

This company is a member of the Leather Working Group, a multi-stakeholder group who's objective is to develop and maintain a protocol that assesses the compliance and environmental performance of tanners and promotes sustainable and appropriate environmental business practices within the leather industry.[Source 2019][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]

This company has responsibility claims on its website in the areas of environment, ethical trade, supporting local communities, and reducing the environmental impacts of the materials and processes used to make their products.[Source 2015][More on Sustainability Reporting]

California, the UK and Australia have all enacted legislation requiring companies operating within their borders to disclose their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains. Follow the link to see this company's disclosure statement.[Source 2017][More on Human Rights]